Simple Present Tense I sing How do we make the Simple Present Tense? subject + auxiliary verb + main verb do base There are three important exceptions: 1. For positive sentences, we do not normally use the auxiliary. 2. For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we add s to the main verb or es to the auxiliary. 3. For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and negatives. Look at these examples with the main verb like: subject +
-
?
auxiliary verb
main verb
I, you, we, they
like
coffee.
He, she, it
likes
coffee.
I, you, we, they
do
not like
coffee.
He, she, it
does
not like
coffee.
Do
I, you, we, they
like
coffee?
Does
he, she, it
like
coffee?
Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:
+
-
?
subject
main verb
I
am
French.
You, we, they
are
French.
He, she, it
is
French.
I
am
not old.
You, we, they
are
not old.
He, she, it
is
not old.
Am
I
late?
Are
you, we, they
late?
Is
he, she, it
late?
How do we use the Simple Present Tense? We use the simple present tense when: • the action is general • the action happens all the time, or habitually, in the past, present and future • the action is not only happening now • the statement is always true John drives a taxi. past
present
future
It is John's job to drive a taxi. He does it every day. Past, present and future. Look at these examples: • I live in New York. • The Moon goes round the Earth. • John drives a taxi. • He does not drive a bus. • We meet every Thursday. • We do not work at night. • Do you play football? Note that with the verb to be, we can also use the simple present tense for situations that are not general. We can use the simple present tense to talk about now. Look at these examples of the verb "to be" in the simple present tense - some of them are general, some of them are now: Am I Tara is not You are happy. past
right? home.
at
present
future
The situation is now.
I am Why are Ram is tall. past
you present
not so
fat. beautiful? future
The situation is general. Past, present and future.
Simple Past Tense I sang The simple past tense is sometimes called the preterite tense. We can use several tenses to talk about the past, but the simple past tense is the one we use most often. How do we make the Simple Past Tense? To make the simple past tense, we use: • Past form only or • auxiliary did + base form Here you can see examples of the past form and base form for irregular verbs and regular verbs: V1 base
V2 past
V3 past participle
regular verb
work explode like
worked exploded liked
worked exploded liked
The past form for all regular verbs ends in -ed.
irregular verb
go see sing
went saw sang
gone seen sung
The past form for irregular verbs is variable. You need to learn it by heart.
You do not need the past participle form to make the simple past tense. It is shown here for completeness only. The structure for positive sentences in the simple past tense is: subject + main verb past The structure for negative sentences in the simple past tense is: subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb did base The structure for question sentences in the simple past tense is: auxiliary verb + subject + main verb did base
The auxiliary verb did is not conjugated. It is the same for all persons (I did, you did, he did etc). And the base form and past form do not change. Look at these examples with the main verbs go and work: subject +
-
?
auxiliary verb
main verb
I
went
to school.
You
worked
very hard.
She
did
not
go
with me.
We
did
not
work
yesterday.
Did
you
go
to London?
Did
they
work
at home?
Exception! The verb to be is different. We conjugate the verb to be (I was, you were, he/she/it was, we were, they were); and we do not use an auxiliary for negative and question sentences. To make a question, we exchange the subject and verb. Look at these examples:
+
-
?
subject
main verb
I, he/she/it
was
here.
You, we, they
were
in London.
I, he/she/it
was
not
there.
You, we, they
were
not
happy.
Was
I, he/she/it
right?
Were
you, we, they
late?
How do we use the Simple Past Tense? We use the simple past tense to talk about an action or a situation - an event - in the past. The event can be short or long. Here are some short events with the simple past tense: The car exploded at 9.30am yesterday. She went to the door. We did not hear the telephone. Did you see that car?
past
present
future
The action is in the past. Here are some long events with the simple past tense: I lived in Bangkok for 10 years. The Jurassic period lasted about 62 million years. We did not sing at the concert. Did you watch TV last night? past
present
future
The action is in the past. Notice that it does not matter how long ago the event is: it can be a few minutes or seconds in the past, or millions of years in the past. Also it does not matter how long the event is. It can be a few milliseconds (car explosion) or millions of years (Jurassic period). We use the simple past tense when: • the event is in the past • the event is completely finished • we say (or understand) the time and/or place of the event In general, if we say the time or place of the event, we must use the simple past tense; we cannot use the present perfect. Here are some more examples: • • • • • • • • •
I lived in that house when I was young. He didn't like the movie. What did you eat for dinner? John drove to London on Monday. Mary did not go to work yesterday. Did you play tennis last week? I was at work yesterday. We were not late (for the train). Were you angry?
Note that when we tell a story, we usually use the simple past tense. We may use the past continuous tense to "set the scene", but we almost always use the simple past tense for the action. Look at this example of the beginning of a story:
"The wind was howling around the hotel and the rain was pouring down. It was cold. The door opened and James Bond entered. He took off his coat, which was very wet, and ordered a drink at the bar. He sat down in the corner of the lounge and quietly drank his..."